A chance to take a breath...

It’s Saturday, 5:00 PM, and it’s the first time I’ve had a chance to sit down and write since last Saturday about this time. I never thought I would be as busy as I was in the States in this laid back society, but it is possible.

Monday night a group of us went to clean the Toasalamasina Hall for the leadership conference that was going to happen for the next few days. It’s perplexing that you pay $300 per night to rent a hall that you have to clean yourself. Anyway, I was there for 4 hours and when I left there was still plenty of work to be done. I think I spent about an hour trying to mop up a lake – there were leaks in the roof and it had been pouring rain for the past few days.

On Tuesday night I asked Janita to come over for burritos since she brought me some tortillas from New Zealand. As I was cooking, Lorna and Zonder showed up and I invited them also. We all ate together and then went to the hall for the conference. To be honest, I really wasn’t looking forward to losing all of my weekday nights to the conference and when worship started my heart was not in it. God quickly put me in my place when suddenly a bolt of lighting struck followed by a simultaneous boom and loss of power. We were mid-song at the time and without hesitation, we continued to worship…in fact, we got louder. Candles began to light the hall as we finished worship. Pastor Paul DeJong from New Zealand’s Christian Life Center delivered a powerful message about throwing your confidence away and hence prevent God from using you to the measure that He could. I left that night with a complete change of attitude and looked forward to Wednesday night.

On Wednesday night Manuia, a fellow teacher from St. Mary’s, came along with Janita and I. The worship was incredible (including the soon-to-be perfected version of “How Great is Our God” by the Peace Chapel worship team). The sermon presented an idea that I had never heard before. Pastor Iliafi talked about altars as being places to worship the Lord, places of dedication and offering and places of sacrifice. He used the example of Abraham and how he built an altar to remember God’s promise so that it would be sealed and not taken away by the enemy. He encouraged us to also build an altar every time God gives us new revelations so that we will not forget, and I thought “how many times have I received something from the Lord and forgot about it when I was put to the test”. During the altar call, Manuia went up and the pastor asked friends of the people at the front to come up and pray for them. When the pastor came to pray for Manuia, she was slain in the Spirit. I have never caught anyone, so I didn’t know what to do – I tried to gently put her down :-D and then the pastor came over and prayed for me and I went down in no time! I was so full of joy!!

Thursday night was the last night of the conference and Pastor Paul DeJong gave the message. Jesus told us to ask for anything in His name and it will be given to us. Paul said that faith never promises immediate results but immediately there is a guarantee return (in God’s perfect timing). The night ended with lots of praising – so much that we were horse.